How the Colorado Avalanche got scary tight, scary fast and scary good at the perfect time

Stanley Cup veterans Ian Cole, Philipp Grubauer and Matt Calvert, who’d collectively played in 82 career postseason games and won three NHL titles, said the Avs are just as blended off the ice as they are on it.

St. Louis Blues’ David Perron (57) reaches for a loose puck as Colorado Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer, of Germany, and Ian Cole (28) defend during the first period Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, in St. Louis.

Ian Cole wasn’t sure what to expect, in hindsight, other than the fact that watching Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen blow by some other stiffs beat the living pants off having to chase them yourself.

“I can say that, in my experience, at least, I genuinely like every single guy in this locker room and I would go out to dinner with every single guy in this locker room,” Cole, the 30-year-old defenseman, said of his first season with the Colorado Avalanche. “It’s not one of those (locker rooms) where it’s clique-y.

“And I think all the way up and down the lineup, guys genuinely like each other. Which is — I wouldn’t say unique, but it’s certainly tough to build that culture. And it all starts with our captain (Gabe Landeskog) and it all flows down from there.”

Cole was one of just three major additions brought on by Avs general manager Joe Sakic last summer, one of the veteran tweaks — along with forward Matt Calvert and goaltender Philipp Grubauer — tacked onto a young core looking for another postseason gear. The Michigan native has one of the roster’s longest beards and longest playoff resumes, having made 62 postseason appearances, 54 of those coming from 2015-17 on the blue line of the Pittsburgh Penguins, with whom he won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

“It’s tough to compare team to team, player to player, personnel-wise,” Cole said of the Avs, who open their Cup run against top-seeded Calgary on Thursday night.

“I’ve had teams like our first year we won (the Cup) in Pittsburgh, we got out of the playoffs in January and had to battle our way through and won like 18 of 21 to finish the year and steamrolled everybody in the playoffs. Which I think is the most similar situation to where we are right now. So it has been done. And it can be done. And I think it’s something that everyone in here believes we can do.”

Cole, Calvert and Grubauer have played on the last three NHL title winners and average 27.3 career Cup games among them — twice as much postseason mileage as the rest of the roster (15.5 postseason appearances).

“(I) saw the Avs as like Washington a couple years ago, so there was a lot of potential there,” explained Grubauer, the former Capitals net-minder who posted an 8-2-2 record and two shutouts in 13 tilts over March and April. “I don’t think the experience is there yet that we had in Washington.”

Grubauer entered the picture via a June 2018 trade to replace Jonathan Bernier, and it’s hard to imagine the spring surge without him. Cole, signed to a three-year contract last July, led the Avs in even-strength blocks (178) and in penalty minutes (115), a tone-setter on and off the ice. Calvert, who also inked a three-year deal last July, slid right into Blake Comeau’s skates as a banger and penalty-killer with the second or third lines.

“When you have a chance to pick a few teams in the summer, you look at the top guys here, and they’re some of the best in the game,” explained Calvert, the former Blue Jackets winger who scored 11 goals, tallied 26 points and tied for the team lead in shorthanded assists (two) with Matt Nieto. “And for me, (as) a role guy, playing behind that is awesome. (For) three years in the playoffs, I lost to the Crosbys, Malkins, Ovechkins of the world. And we’ve got a younger version of that here.

“We’re definitely a little younger … in Columbus, we didn’t have the high-end skill we have here. It was more a work-by-committee kind of deal. But we’ve got the potential. We’re a scary team.”

Scary hot.

Scary quick.

And, even with the new guys, scary tight.

“I don’t think that anyone in here that’s young is scared of the older guys and doesn’t want to talk to them,” Cole said. “I think everyone in here realizes the best way to be a team and the best way to be successful is to try to get guys to assimilate as much as possible, regardless of their age, regardless of how many games they’ve played, regardless of how many All-Star games they’ve been to. The best way to be a team and to be successful is to get everyone on the same page. And have everyone genuinely like each other.”

Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic held a season-ending news conference Tuesday, less than a week after his team lost Game 7 of a Western Conference semifinal playoff series to the San Jose Sharks. Sakic touched on numerous important topics -- none more important than re-signing star right winger Mikko Rantanen.